The specific purpose of The Shane McCusker Foundation for Pediatric Cardiology shall include without limitations to educate the public about congenital heart conditions and to provide funding in the field of pediatric cardiology at UCLA’s Medical Center Mattel Children’s Hospital for the goal of servicing and saving children born with heart defects.
Hours after birth, Shane was airlifted to the Mattel Children’s Hospital at UCLA, where he was seen by specialists and endured a complex heart surgery, but could not make it through the critical hours of the recovery period.
Throughout Shane’s 33 hours of life, he showed us what it means to fight. He proved to us how brave and fearless he was. Shane was born with a special heart, one that was far too unique for this world. Though, there is not a minute that goes by where we don’t miss him, we chose to establish this foundation to honor our son and what he taught us while he was with us.
With this foundation, we hope to create more awareness of congenital heart diseases. We want to make early detection more common, so the doctors and researchers can study each case before birth. We want to make a healthy life possible for children who suffer from these congenital disorders. Because our son was flown to UCLA, where they have one of the best pediatric cardiology departments in the world, we feel so drawn to support them. We know that Shane was in the hands of some of the best doctors and nurses in their field of study. The dedication and compassion they showed us made us realize how important it is to have these very special individuals in our world. These men and women dedicate their lives to saving children, world wide, who suffer from heart diseases like Shane, and we want to continue helping their program.
Shane will forever be our son. He was this amazing little boy, who in such a short amount of time, taught us so much about life. Though, we wish so badly that he was with us, we are grateful for the time we had, the memories we will carry, and the story we can share. We love him and miss him every second of everyday. We hope that with the support of this foundation we can keep Shane’s memory alive, by helping to save lives of other children who suffer from congenital heart diseases.
